Tag Archives: Middle East

Despite the atrocious and inhumane “form” of killing employed by the Assad regime, the rebels who we are currently calling the “Free Syrian Army” are just as despicable. Why in the world would we rush to the aid of people like this? Furthermore, Russia among others are questioning the reports that the gas was used by Assad, calling John Kerry a liar, and threatening action of their own if we act. This entire situation is FUBAR, and we should keep our distance save for one condition. And that condition would be based on our resolve to act in a decisive manner on the scale of WWII. If we don’t have the courage, strength and resolve to annihilate the region, impose our morality and our will, and occupy that region for decades to come – then we shouldn’t do anything, because tepid acts of war accomplish nothing.

A lot to discuss, namely the on going saga of Syria. What to do? I don’t really see any good option, but I do see Obama painted into a corner by his rhetoric and a lot of Democrats conveniently forgetting their objections to our last excursion. What was their criticism back then? That Iraq was not an imminent threat, that we did not build a coalition, and that we did not have an exit strategy. Well I am pretty sure that all of those finer points apply this time around, but funny enough, there’s no mention of those details. In fact I heard Eugene Robinson say the other day that it was good thing that that British Parliament voted against action, because that frees up Obama to act without them. Strange, don’t ya think?

And here’s an olive branch to my AGW opponents. There is no need to get hostile over such disagreement. There is actually some recent evidence that the earth may be entering a cooling period – hence climate change, something we all agree on. What we also agree on is that our society does need to transition to a cleaner, more sustainable energy platform, but that platform has to be economically viable, mass produceable and sustainable and in my opinion, the private sector, entrepreneurialism, and the free market forces of supply and demand will turn out the best alternative and in the quickest time frame. So let’s dispense with the “convenient consensus” of government funded scientists, the carbon credit profit center that Al Gore has going, and the high emotion of the “save the polar bear clubs”, and let’s continue to study the impact of our fossil fuel based energy platform, and that of the Sun as it translates to that change so that we can continue to be good stewards of our planet.

It’s becoming increasingly hard to write on a single issue anymore in that every time I zero in on a topic, three more spring up. It’s either my ADD, or the meltdown of this regime is full display – I tend to think it’s the latter. Allow me to touch on a few very disheartening issues:

– The economy – which the media is doing their best to distract everyone away from. Consider these bullet points:

#1 When Barack Obama entered the White House, 60.6 percent of working age Americans had a job. Today, only 58.7 percent of working age Americans have a job.

#3 The number of full-time workers in the United States is still nearly 6 million below the old record that was set back in 2007.

#4 It is hard to believe, but an astounding 53 percent of all American workers now make less than $30,000 a year.

And these are just some of the “greatest hits” currently confronting average day Americans. It was argued the other day that business’s simply need to “pay people more money”, which is a very frighteningly juvenile analysis of what ails our economy. Labor is subject to supply and demand, as any product or service is in a free market economy, and the argument to simply pay people more ignores the business realities of overall costs, ROI’s, development, research, regulations, inflation, taxes, depreciation, etc., etc.. These considerations become even more of an issue when factoring in the globalization of the economy. The cold hard truth is that Obamacare is a HUGE wet blanket over the economy right now as many business’s are still unsure how badly they will be effected. What it will do to their labor costs, their business models, their expansion plans, etc., so many are just sitting on the sidelines, and unfortunately reducing hours on many employees. When the government takes over one sixth of the economy, it’s hard to call that economy a free market anymore, and that is a reality that is impossible to ignore.

– The racial divide – Worse then it has ever been in my life time. I am still waiting for the President to speak out on the Christopher Lane or Delbert Belton murders, but sadly, I don’t think there is any political gain to be had as their was with Trayvon Martin. Where’s Al Sharpton? How about Rep. Fredricka Wilson? Remember when she said: “Trayvon was hunted down like a dog, shot down in the street.”. Well, Christopher and Delbert WERE hunted down like dogs – and the silence is deafening. But just this morning, MSNBC finds a way to bring Trayvon back up using the Christopher Lane murder – absolutely shameful.

– Foreign Policy – Just a quick thought on this. What started out as noble, yet very misguided, intentions on behalf of the President back in 2009, has now blown up (no pun intended) in our face. Sadly, the ME is a disaster, and they still don’t like us no matter who is President.

It’s going from bad to worse in Syria. Yesterday several reports have it that the Assad regime has in fact crossed the line and used chemical weapons on it’s people, children even, which is beyond the pale. So now what? I guess we find out what Obama is made of considering his “line in the sand” statement on more than one occasion:

“I have made clear that the use of chemical weapons is a game changer.” Obama: “As president of the United States, I don’t bluff.”

To be fair, Obama is not the only world leader to make this declaration, so it will be interesting to see what transpires. Either the civilized world is going to stand up to the Assad regime, and Iran by extension, or not.

Equally troubling is what is going on in Egypt, and reports are that just yesterday Lebanon lobbed more shells into Israel and Netanyahu is not happy. Remember the 2009 Cairo speech Obama delivered? Seems like a million years ago, and don’t you wish we could go back to the days before that speech now? I think it’s become very apparent that the ME policies of the Obama administration have not worked out real well, and this is a poor reflection on Hillary Clinton and may haunt her in 2016 if she chooses to run.